The Luna Effect
by JJ Rust
Summary: No experience at Hogwarts would be complete without an encounter involving Luna Lovegood.  When American exchange student Jimmy O'Bannon runs into the Loony One, he winds up confronting a shameful episode from his past.


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **_The following takes place during my multi-chapter story "Jimmy O'Bannon: The Adventure Begins."_

* * *

_And week one of training camp is in the books._

Jimmy O'Bannon smiled and flipped the puck in the air. He let it fall back into his hand and increased his stride through the corridors of Hogwarts. He felt satisfied with the way things went this week. Granted, he'd been an absolute SOB with all the running and drills and calisthenics he but everyone through. But the boys and girls that remained were the ones truly dedicated to the team and beating Slytherin come their game in June.

The rapid clicking of shoes echoed through the stone corridor. He flipped the puck in the air again as a young girl rounded the corridor, her waist-length dirty blond hair bouncing as she skipped. O'Bannon's brow furrowed. He'd seen her around Hogwarts before. Hard not to notice someone with radish-shaped earrings, a necklace of butterbeer corks and silvery eyes the size of twin moons. He had no idea what the girl's name was.

O'Bannon smiled and nodded politely as she skipped past him. The girl didn't acknowledge him. Heck, she didn't seem to acknowledge the world around her in general.

He shrugged and flipped his puck again.

"They're gone."

O'Bannon jerked in surprise at the sudden declaration. He spun around.

The girl stopped skipping. She now faced him, those incredibly large silvery orbs locked on him.

"Uh, what?"

"The wrackspurts. They're gone." The girl slowly moved her head around, maintaining that dreamy expression.

O'Bannon looked around him. He'd be damned if he could see any wrackspurts, or anything else.

"They've been following me all day. And now I can't feel them any more."

"Uh-huh." A bewildered look settled on O'Bannon's face. He held his breath as the girl walked over to him. "What is that?" She stared at his right hand.

"It's a puck."

"A puck? Is it an enchanted talisman that can ward off unwelcome creatures?"

"Um, no. It's for playing hockey."

"Hockey? Oh, that's the game Professor Burbage showed off that one day. So you must be the American that put it together."

"Um, yeah. Jimmy O'Bannon."

"Luna Lovegood." She stuck out her hand.

O'Bannon stared at it for several seconds. Hesitantly, he took hold of it for the briefest of handshakes.

"You're very fortunate to be in England right now. Things are getting very bad in America."

O'Bannon canted his head. "What are you talking about?"

"Why, the Dark Cloak Society."

"Huh?"

"The secret organization that kidnaps American and Canadian wizards and witches and performs experiments on them. Their activities have dramatically increased since your new Secretary of Magic took office." She leaned closer to him. "He runs them, you see."

O'Bannon raised an eyebrow. Was this girl serious?

"You should advise your friends and family back there to set up security charms around their homes."

"Uh, yeah, sure." O'Bannon checked his watch. "Um, thanks for the advice."

Luna just gave him a dreamy smile.

O'Bannon started to turn, but got caught in those protuberant eyes. Damn, he'd never seen eyes so big before. They were almost hypnotic.

"If you have some more of those pucks," Luna said, "I'd like it if I could have them. They do work well getting rid of wrackspurts."

"Uh, yeah, sure." He closed his eyes and grimaced. _Don't encourage her._

With a lopsided smile, Luna twirled around and skipped away.

O'Bannon stood in the middle of the corridor, , shaking his head. "Well that was . . . interesting."

**XXXXX**

O'Bannon awoke the next morning with thoughts of Luna Lovegood on his mind. He tried to ignore them, to think instead about what he wanted to do Monday for training camp. But his encounter with Luna was so damn weird. Sure, he knew some kids back at Salem a few fries short of a Happy Meal. But Luna Lovegood was in a whole other universe when it came to strange.

_And what the hell are wrackspurts anyway?_

He still shook his head as he entered the Gryffindor Common Room. He halted when he saw a bushy-haired girl sitting at one of the tables, her face buried in a book.

_Well, if anyone around here would know . . ._

"Yo, Hermione."

"Yes?" She whipped her head around, an annoyed look on her face.

O'Bannon sighed. He'd come to learn that interrupting Hermione Granger while she was reading could be as dangerous as trying to steal an egg from a dragon.

Still he pressed on.

"Say, you know everything about everything."

The lines of aggravation etched in Hermione's forehead deepened.

"Uh, just curious. You ever hear of a creature called a wrackspurt?"

Hermione's annoyed look morphed into a full blown scowl. "Oh for Heaven's sake. Have you been talking to Luna Lovegood?"

"Um, yeah?"

"There are no such things as wrackspurts. She just made them up. That's all she does. Talk about imaginary creatures and insane conspiracies."

"Any particular reason why?"

"Because she's a loon. Why do you think everyone here calls her 'Loony Lovegood'?"

"Well, I guess after last night it's pretty obvious." O'Bannon cleared his throat. "Um, so I guess this means there's no secret organization back in the U.S. that's kidnapping wizards and witches and experimenting on them, huh?"

Hermione responded with an unlady-like snort and went back to reading her book, muttering something under her breath.

"Well, thanks for setting me straight, Hermione. You enjoy that book."

O'Bannon headed over to the Fat Lady's portrait. He stopped before he reached it and groaned. Crap, he said yes to Luna when she asked if he could have some of his pucks. Would that mean she'd be seeking him out, bugging him about it and anything else on her warped mind?

_Or maybe not?_ The girl appeared as though she was in an eternal daze. Maybe she'd already forgotten about their encounter last night. Maybe she moved on to something else, like trying to prove Martians had infiltrated the Wizarding World or whatever. Thankfully Luna was a couple years younger than him, so they wouldn't be in any classes together. With any luck, he wouldn't see her before he went back to the US in June.

**XXXXX**

"I can't believe Snape gave me this lousy grade." O'Bannon scowled as he stared at the parchment he gripped in his hand.

"And you've been here how long now, Jimmy?"

O'Bannon groaned and turned to Fred Weasley as they exited Potions Class.

The redhead continued. "You know Snape's not going to give anyone a fair shake on their homework unless they happen to be in Slytherin."

"I worked my ass off on this essay. And this is what I get for all my troubles?" O'Bannon's right index and middle fingers flicked the top of the parchment where Snape put down his grade. "'Acceptable . . . Barely.'"

Fred's twin, George, shrugged. "It's still better than what he gave Fred and me."

O'Bannon grumbled and kept staring at his essay. He wouldn't miss Snape one bit when he returned to America. At least his Potions teacher back at Salem was a pretty fair guy, although rather boring.

Frowning, O'Bannon lowered his parchment . . .

And found himself face-to-face with Luna Lovegood.

"Yah!" He jumped back in surprise. Fred and George cracked up.

"Hello, Jimmy. What's wrong? Is it an Orphodon? They can fly around and make you experience your greatest fear."

"Um . . . I'm fine. I just gotta go . . ." He tried to go around her, but students filed through the hall on both sides, many shooting him and Luna queer looks. Fred and George, meanwhile, had made it to the staircase and looked back at him, laughing.

"I just wanted to see if you had more pucks," Luna said. "The wrackspurts came back last night."

O'Bannon sighed and slouched. He caught sight of Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet exchanging glances and laughing. Lee Jordan smiled and shook his head as he walked by. None of them attempted to come to his rescue.

_Some friends you all are._

Luna continued to gaze at him, waiting for an answer.

"Um, well, I don't have any on me. And, um, I actually lost a lot of them. Probably gonna be a while before I get more."

"Oh. Well maybe I can help you get more."

O'Bannon fought to keep his eyes from rolling. Couldn't this whackjob take the hint? He wished he wasn't such a nice guy right now. Then he could tell Luna to piss off and not feel bad about it.

"Um, no, you don't have to do that."

"Are you sure? There seem to be more wrackspurts around here than normal. If we don't get rid of them before final exams everyone could -"

"Oh look. Loony Lovegood has a boyfriend."

Anger flared inside O'Bannon at the familiar voice. He turned and saw Draco Malfoy standing by the door to Potions Class. For once, his lapdogs Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere around him.

"I'm surprised anyone would want to spend even one minute with a demented hag like you." Malfoy glared at Luna, before switching his gaze to O'Bannon. "It doesn't say much for your tastes either, O'Bannon. Then again, who else in this school would want to be with a worthless Mudblood from America?"

O'Bannon balled up his fists. "Shut up, Malfoy, before I turn you into a smear on the wall."

He started toward Malfoy. The Slytherin boy swallowed and ducked into Potions Class, closing the door behind him.

O'Bannon sneered. _Typical of his type. _

He turned back to Luna. The girl didn't seem the least bit angry or hurt by Malfoy's insults. She just stared at O'Bannon with that dreamy expression.

"Let me know when you get more pucks."

Luna skipped past him and down the corridor.

He shook his head, wondering what he did to deserve the attention of such a nutbar.

**XXXXX**

_Stop staring at her._

But O'Bannon couldn't help it. In between bites of his dinner he found himself looking over at the far end of the Ravenclaw table. Luna Lovegood sat by herself, eating her dinner seemingly without a care in the world. A pang of sympathy shot through him. He thought back to his first few weeks at Hogwarts, when all he did was mess up and cost Gryffindor points. He spent many a meal sitting by himself. He'd lucked out when he formed the hockey club and started making friends. But Luna . . . did she have any friends at Hogwarts? How many meals did she eat by herself?

_Who could be friends with someone so weird?_

O'Bannon popped a forkful of roast duck in his mouth and eyed Luna again. He thought back to their encounter outside Potions Class earlier today when he wished he could just tell her to piss off. The thought made him feel guilty. Okay, she was annoying, but not to the extent she deserved a hostile remark like that. She certainly didn't deserve Malfoy's barbs.

"Hey, Jimmy." Alicia Spinnet's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Is there anything going on between you and Loony Lovegood?" She nodded in Luna's direction. "You've been staring at her for most of supper."

"What? No, there's nothing going on."

"So why are you making eyes at her?" Alicia grinned and leaned closer to him.

O'Bannon opened his mouth, but couldn't think of a response. He glanced at the others around him. Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell and the Weasley twins all waited anxiously for him to answer.

He remained silent.

"So what did she want with you today, anyway?"

"Come now, George." Fred slapped his twin on the shoulder. "After putting together our hockey match with Slytherin, Jimmy Boy here's famous. All the ladies will be after him now, even Loony Lovegood."

O'Bannon almost choked. Oh crap, could Fred be right? Could Luna . . .

He shuddered, not wanting to even consider the possibility.

"Um . . . so, the second task for the Tri-Wizard Tournament's coming up in a month. Any idea what you think Harry's gonna have to do?" O'Bannon's eyes nervously darted around the table, hoping his friends would go along with the change of subject.

"Well," Lee began. "The way that egg was screeching when he opened it, maybe Seamus was right. Harry's going to fight a banshee."

"Or a siren," offered Katie Bell.

O'Bannon relaxed, grateful not to talk or think about Luna Lovegood.

**XXXXX**

O'Bannon strode down the corridor, rolled up pieces of parchment under his arm. He didn't look forward to going to the library and dealing with Madam Pince. The woman incessantly hovered around him and any other student in there, constantly reminding them to put books back in their proper place when they finished. But he needed to get more information on kelpie for his Care of Magical Creatures homework. Much as he liked Hagrid, his teaching methods left a lot to be desired. What notes he jotted down in the class were insufficient to fill a ten-inch essay.

O'Bannon rounded the corner . . . and stopped.

At the other end of the corridor was Luna Lovegood, magically attaching pieces of parchment to the stone walls. She looked up at him and waved.

_Aw, friggin' wonderful._

"Hello, Jimmy." She skipped over to him.

"Hey, Luna."

He waited for her to ask him about pucks and wrackspurts. Instead she held up a piece of parchment with a pair of red and pink shoes. "You haven't by any chance seen these shoes, have you?"

"Nope."

"I lost them the other day. I think Nargles stole them again."

O'Bannon held his tongue. The last thing he wanted was her to drone on about Nargles, whatever the hell they were.

"Well, um, if I see them, I'll let you know."

"Thank you. You're very kind." Luna shot him a dreamy smile.

The veins in O'Bannon's neck stuck out. He thought back to what Fred had said at dinner the other week. Could Luna possibly have a crush on him?

The thought made him want to bang his head against the nearest wall. Mireet, whom he had the hots for, didn't want to get into any serious relationship since she'd be returning to France with the rest of the Beauxbatons contingent at the end of term. But it seemed this whacko 13-year-old girl had eyes for him . . . unbelievably large silvery eyes.

_Man, life just ain't fair._

"Well, um . . . I gotta get to the library. So good luck finding -"

"Oh, how charming." The familiar, snide voice interrupted him. "Loony Lovegood and her Mudblood boyfriend on a romantic stroll through the corridors."

O'Bannon scowled and turned around. Malfoy approached, this time with Crabbe and Goyle in tow.

"I'm surprised you're still at this school." Malfoy stared past O'Bannon to Luna. "I'd figure by now someone would have sent you to the mental ward at St. Mungo's. Of course, all the healing spells in the world couldn't fix your demented brain."

"Actually, there's nothing wrong with my brain. Unless a wrackspurt gets in, but -"

"Oh shut up!" Malfoy sneered. "I wish you'd just follow in your mother's footsteps and blow yourself up testing a new spell."

Crabbe and Goyle laughed.

O'Bannon drew a slow, angry breath. Malfoy was an evil prick, but that comment seemed beyond the pale even for him. That was Luna's mother he was talking about for God's sake.

The three Slytherins kept laughing. It only added fuel to the rage burning inside him.

"What do you say, Loony?" Malfoy cackled. "Why don't you -"

"Hey, Malfoy! Shut your mouth before I put my fist in it!"

"Oooooh." Both Crabbe and Goyle pretended to look scared. Malfoy just smirked at him.

"It's three against one, O'Bannon."

O'Bannon stomped over to the trio. He glared right into Malfoy's eyes. "Yeah, you're right. But I guarantee you, before I go down, I'm taking one of you a-holes with me. Who wants to be the one?"

His eyes darted from Malfoy to Crabbe to Goyle. None of them made a move.

"Let's get out of here." Malfoy looked to his two lapdogs. "The sight of these two is making me sick."

The three Slytherins backed up. Malfoy pointed to O'Bannon as he turned the corridor. "One of these days, Mudblood."

"Name the time and place and I'll be there, jagoff."

With a final scowl, Malfoy and his cronies vanished around the corner.

O'Bannon took a few cleansing breaths and turned back to Luna. He never knew that about her mother. Jeez, what must she be feeling after Malfoy's cruel comment?

Luna still wore her usual dreamy expression, looking like nothing at all had happened.

"I think a wrackspurt got into Draco's head. Good night, Jimmy."

Luna skipped away.

O'Bannon blinked and scratched his head. Did the girl hear what Malfoy had said? In his world when somebody said something like that about your mother, fists started flying. But Luna? She acted like Malfoy simply told her he didn't like her earrings.

_What the hell is up with that girl?_ And why the hell did he come to her defense when she didn't seem to care what Malfoy said about her mother?

_What else was I supposed to do?_

**XXXXX**

O'Bannon's smile grew as he headed outside. He stared out the open door to the snow covered school grounds. The cold air and the fresh snow meant only one thing. It was the perfect day for hockey.

With his stick over his shoulder, he stepped outside. He couldn't wait to get to the pond and lace up his skates. Today he'd concentrate on passing skills. That was an area that needed improving. Actually, all areas of the game needed improving. But that was to be expected with witches and wizards who'd just started playing hockey.

He walked down the stone steps and headed for the pond, the snow softly crunching under his feet. Normally he'd be heading down there with Fred and George, but they were in the middle of hexing a new batch of candy and said they'd head down in a bit.  
O'Bannon turned on the path leading to the hockey pond when he heard laughter behind him. Brow furrowed, he swung around.

Near a cluster of bare trees he spotted Malfoy and several other Slytherins; Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, Miles Bletchley and Millicent Bulstrode. Above them hovered a bookbag.

"Come on." Malfoy raised his wand and lifted the bag higher. "Try jumping for it."

The other Slytherins laughed.

O'Bannon's eyes shifted from the levitating bookbag to the ground. He felt his cheeks redden when he saw Luna Lovegood staring at the bookbag.

"I know this may be amusing to you, but I really need my bag back. My Charms book is in there and I have a test to study for."

"Aw, did you hear that, Draco?" The pug-faced Pansy turned to Malfoy. "The poor thing wants her bag back. I say we chuck it in the lake instead."

"Actually, I've got a better idea."

A leering Malfoy flicked his wand. The bag turned upside-down. Three books tumbled out of it and crashed down on Luna's head. She covered the top of her head and sank to one knee.

Anger exploded inside O'Bannon like a supernova. He dropped his stick and skates and stomped over to the laughing Slytherins.

"Malfoy!" He yanked his wand out from his jacket pocket. "Leave her alone, you son-of-a-bitch!"

Malfoy turned to him, still cackling. He then glanced at Luna, who was still on one knee rubbing her head. "Oh look, Loony. It's you're heroic Mudblood boyfriend, come to save the day."

"I've had it with your damn bullying, Malfoy. You and your scumbag friends get out of here and leave her alone. And I don't mean for today. I mean forever."

"Or what are you going to do? It's six against one this time, O'Bannon."

He glanced around. The other Slytherins encircled him, all with their wands out.

_Dammit._ O'Bannon wondered why he even decided to charge in and help Luna. He wanted nothing more than for the whackjob to leave him alone. Yet here he was, protecting her from six Slytherins. And why? It wasn't as if he liked her.

_I also don't hate her._

He eyed the Slytherins, all with their wands aimed at him. No way he'd win this fight. He'd be lucky if he could take out one of these a-holes before he got hit with God knew how many hexes.

_It's not worth it._ He should just walk away, let the Slytherins do whatever they wished to Luna. Maybe that would finally get her to stop bugging him.

That's what he should do. Deep down, O'Bannon knew he couldn't.

"Well," he said out loud. "If I'm going down . . ." O'Bannon locked his gaze on Malfoy. Maybe he could nail him with a Flaming Hair hex before the spells started flying.

"Oi! There a problem here?"

O'Bannon whipped his head to the left. A smile formed on his lips.

Fred and George stood nearby, along with Ginny and Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, Angelina Johnson and Mireet Miradeaux. They all had their wands in their hands.

"Well, it looks like the cavalry's here." The smile on O'Bannon's face broadened.

Malfoy scowled and looked to the other Slytherins. He nodded to the left. The others formed up around him and left.

"You're lucky, O'Bannon. One day your friends won't be around to save your miserable Mudblood arse."

"At least I have friends and not lapdogs like you, buttwad."

With a parting glare, Malfoy stomped off with the other Slytherins.

"Are you all right, Luna?" Ginny went over to check on her.

"Yes, I'm fine." Luna rubbed her head.

Ginny picked up the bookbag and handed it to Luna, who walked over to O'Bannon, wearing a lopsided smile.

"Thank you, Jimmy. That was very brave of you. Oh, I do hope you'll be getting more pucks soon. The wrackspurts are getting worse."

Luna skipped away. As he watched her go, a voice whispered to him from the back of his mind.

_You know what you have to do._

**XXXXX**

O'Bannon leaned against the wall outside the Ravenclaw Common Room. His hand flexed around the small bag he carried.

_Don't do it. She'll never leave you alone if you do it._

He didn't budge from his spot.

Several Ravenclaws walked past him, some saying hello, others giving him odd looks.

"What are you doing here, Jimmy?" asked Michael Corner.

"Uh, waiting for Luna Lovegood."

Corner jerked his head back in surprise. "Okay . . ." He eyed him curiously as he entered the Common Room.

O'Bannon groaned. This would just strengthen the rumor going around Hogwarts he and Luna had a thing going.

_Well, whatever._

Finally he saw Luna skipping down the corridor toward him.

"Hello, Jimmy. How are you?"

"Hey. Um, I'm fine."

Luna lowered her immense eyes. "What do you have in the bag?"

"Um, I finally got some more pucks. Here you go."

Luna beamed as she took the bag. "Oh, thank you. I can already feel the wrackspurts going away."

"Um . . . cool. Well, glad I could help. See ya."

He started to walk away.

"You couldn't have beaten them, you know."

He stopped and turned back to Luna. "What?"

"Malfoy and his friends. They had you outnumbered. You would have been hit with all sorts of nasty hexes. So why did you help me? Especially when you don't like me."

"What? I never said I didn't like you."

"No, you didn't. But I can sense it."

O'Bannon's mouth fell open. His mind drew a blank on what to say next.

"It's all right, you know. I really don't have any friends here at Hogwarts. Well, maybe Ginny Weasley. Though I expect it's because she feels sorry for me."

O'Bannon just gazed at her, completely stunned. Not only was Luna a mental case, she had a knack for being brutally honest.

"So I'm curious," she continued. "If you're not my friend, why would you risk being hexed to stand up for me?"

"Um . . . I just don't like bullies."

"Oh. We're you bullied back in America?"

"No. Not really."

"Well, something must have happened to make you react the way you did to Malfoy."

O'Bannon's eyes darted all over the corridor, determined not to rest on Luna. "No. I just hate bullies. That's it."

He turned to leave, not wanting to talk about this anymore, not wanting to recall . . .

"It usually helps to talk about bad things."

He halted at Luna's voice. Why did he stop? He should keep going. He had to keep going.

"It doesn't help to keep things bottled up inside. It has negative effects on the body, you know."

O'Bannon's brain screamed at him to go, to head back to Gryffindor Tower as fast as he could and never deal with Luna Lovegood again.

Instead, he slowly turned back to her. He stared at her face, that dreamy expression of hers. And those eyes. He saw more than just their enormity. There was compassion, sincerity, something non-judgmental.

"When I was eight, before I learned I was a wizard, I went to a regular Muggle elementary school in Boston. One day I was on the playground and I saw some of my friends in this circle, yelling for some reason. I went over to see what was going on."

O'Bannon took a breath before he continued. "They had this kid surrounded. Timmy Warren was his name. He was this fat, nerdy-looking kid. Nobody liked him. Anyway, these guys who were like my best friends were shouting all kinds of nasty stuff at him. Then they pushed him to the ground and started hitting and kicking him."

"So you tried to stop it."

O'Bannon bit his lip momentarily. "No."

"You ran away?"

"No."

"Then what?"

He looked away from Luna. He tried to clamp his mouth shut, but the words tumbled out. "My friends were egging me on, telling me to get my shot in. I mean, I'd been friends with these guys for a long time. Youth hockey, little league baseball, birthday parties. We did all that stuff. And they kept at me and at me, asking if I was a chicken, telling me it'd be fun."

O'Bannon lowered his head. He wanted to stop, but knew it was too late. "So I did. Timmy was on the ground and I stomped on him . . . hard. I . . . I was afraid if I didn't go along with them, they wouldn't be my friends anymore."

He didn't want to look up, didn't want to see Luna's reaction.

The tips of Luna's shoes appeared before him. He forced his head up. To his surprise, Luna's expression hadn't changed.

"What made you stop being a bully?"

"A couple days later, I was in the bathroom and heard someone crying in one of the stalls. The door was half-open anyway, so I looked in. It was Timmy Warren, crying his eyes out. And there was this huge welt on his face. When he saw me, he curled up in the corner of the stall. He was afraid of me. Me! I mean, it's one thing to intimidate guys in a hockey game. But to do it to this kid who never bothered anyone, who didn't have any friends . . ." He shook his head. "I felt sick to my stomach thinking about what I did. I even apologized to him. I don't know if he heard me because he was crying so loud."

O'Bannon paused to take a breath. "The next day, my friends were on the playground, picking on Timmy again. This time I told them to stop."

"And did they?"

"No. I wound up getting my ass kicked along with Timmy. Weird thing was, I felt a lot better that day than the day I stomped on Timmy."

"So I guess those boys weren't your friends any more?"

O'Bannon shook his head. "No, they weren't. And I got razzed big-time by a lot of other kids at school for sticking up for a 'loser' like Timmy Warren. But I didn't care. I knew deep down I did the right thing. Besides, I made new friends, better friends, when I got to the Salem Witches Institute."

He stared back at Luna and gave a sardonic laugh. "I don't believe it. I never told anyone that story. My parents, my friends back at Salem, my friends here."

"Why not?"

"Because everyone says I'm a nice guy. What would they think if they knew I was a bully when I was eight-years-old?"

"I wouldn't call you a bully. You simply made a mistake, and you learned from it."

O'Bannon snorted. "Well, there's gotta be an easier way to learn a lesson."

"Most people learn lessons after doing horrible things. When I was six, my mother punished me because I was playing with some of her potions. I was very angry at her. So I took her wedding tiara that had been passed down from her great-grandmother and poured a Dissolving Potion over it. I knew she was very fond of it, and I couldn't wait to see her be upset over it. But when she found out what I did, she started crying. Then I started crying, knowing how much I hurt her. I vowed right there and then that I would never do anything to cause a person so much pain."

O'Bannon frowned. "Like I said, there's gotta be an easier way to learn a lesson."

Luna took a step closer to him. O'Bannon didn't feel uncomfortable about it.

"You're a good person, Jimmy. You made a mistake, but you overcame it and became a better person for it."

She smiled and patted him on the arm. "Good night, Jimmy."

Luna headed for the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

"Hey, Luna," he called out.

She turned back to him.

"Thanks. It actually felt good getting that out in the open."

Luna smiled again, waved and entered the Common Room with her bag of pucks.

O'Bannon just stared at the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room. He wondered what effect Luna had over him that could make him reveal such a shameful event in his life to a girl he barely knew.

Whatever it was, he hoped other students at Hogwarts got to experience it. Because as strange as Luna could be, she had a lot more sense than most people.

- THE END -


End file.
